There are some obvious ways that we at Pollen are more eco-friendly than most. The biggies are: Working with locally grown flowers as much as possible. Not using floral foam. Our in-house flower donation program, ReBloom. Composting our leaves, stems, and other organic materials with the help of Collective Resource. One of our eco-friendly efforts […]

Rachel and Jason’s wedding at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum reminded me that there are many little things, easy to overlook, that we at Pollen do to minimize the ecological impact of our clients’ weddings. Some are more obvious, liking working with locally grown flowers whenever possible. Others are less obvious. Here are a couple […]

Pollen is excited to be a part of the Chicago Green Wedding Alliance‘s workshop on green weddings, being held later this month. Entitled “Eco-Chic Weddings: An Event Planners’ Workshop,” the half-day workshop will highlight achievable ways that wedding planners can incorporate green elements into their weddings. Planners will leave the workshop with real, tangible ways […]

Sure! I’m happy to recommend caterers, invitation designers, photographers, etc. that I’ve enjoyed working with, and share Pollen’s interest in greener weddings! Putting together a little directory of other green wedding vendors that I know seemed like a simple idea. After talking with the folks at Spilled Ink Press, we realized that this simple idea […]

I’m often asked what makes Pollen an eco-friendly florist. One way we are a green florist is in where we get our flowers from, and, more specifically, how the flowers have been grown. Locally and organically grown flowers provide the most eco-friendly option, as explained in a previous post. But being in the Midwest, locally […]

The quest to offer greener options to my clients continues. Piece by piece, I’m trying to find eco-friendly wedding items as alternatives to the less eco-friendly ones! Nothing beats the flicker of candles at a table for creating a warm and soothing environment. For this reason, votive candles are often used as a part of […]

I just finished watching Eco Trip: The Real Cost of Living (a Sundance Channel show, available to stream from Netflix), and–wow–there is so much I didn’t know about gold mining. In this episode, the host follows the path of production of a gold ring. A little about what I learned… Most gold mines in the […]

Creating a sustainable event can begin with one of the very first steps of planning a wedding: choosing the wedding date. The process of selecting a date is a complicated one. Season, holidays, availability of key people… these all factor into the wedding date selection. Add one more factor–locally grown product availability–and you’re on your […]

For a greener wedding, skip the aisle runner! The use of an aisle runner, rolled down the aisle of the church before the bridal party processional, is a tradition that has outlived its necessity. Historically, aisle runners were used before the days of asphalt and concrete to protect the bride’s gown from dirt tracked […]